Most homes are provided with fencing systems to enclose all or a portion of the lot on which the home is situated. Where fencing is employed, it may be of the chain link type through which visibility is good or it may be of a solid wood type wherein visibility through the fence is prevented. Fences are obviously provided for security reasons and in many cases are provided to protect children and other persons from any other hazardous environment that may be located on the premises. For example, many domestic facilities are constructed to include swimming pools, exotic gardens and the like, and in many cases contain dogs as pets or guards. Where any kind of hazardous environment is located on the premises, it is desirable to provide a security fence, especially in the case where the back yard of a home contains a swimming pool. Insurance codes and city and county laws often require the swimming pool to be fenced to prevent young children from being attracted to it and gaining unauthorized access to it.
Especially where wooden fences are employed, typically the fences are of sufficient height that one cannot see over them. Obviously, where fences are employed, security gates are also employed. Gates may be of the single type the opposite portion of the fence contains a latch mechanism this is engageable by a corresponding latch device on the gate. In the case of double gates such as are frequently utilized to form a gate closure for driveways, a pair of gates are each pivoted to sections of the fence and are then secured together at the central portion thereof by a latch mechanism. In all cases known at the present time, gate mechanisms that are commercially available are intended to be installed on the gate assembly such that they are accessible from one side only. If the gate and fence are of the solid type and one wishes to pass through the gate from the opposite direction with a single latch on the opposite side, that person cannot unlatch and pass through the gate and thus must pass through the house or around the opposite side of the fence in order to gain access to the latch. It is therefore desirable to provide a latch mechanism that is capable of being unlocked and opened from either side of the gate mechanism. It is also desirable to provide a latch mechanism that is capable of being utilized with both single and double gate assemblies without any significant alteration thereof.